E.J. Graff makes a simple but important point about the fact that women face hateful speech at higher rates than men; it is NOT a web based phenomenon:

here's what has been missed in the discussion of Kathy Sierra's horrific experience, as far as I can tell: this happens in the world, not just on the web. What's happened to Sierra is a virtual extension of the sexual harassment that hits women in any predominantly male field, what I've come to think of as "barrier" sexual harassment: making it clear to women that they don't belong and will be violated if they stay.

From Hillary Clinton to women academics, particularly in the sciences, to sports coverage to news anchors (yes, I think Katie Couric is awful, but no more so than Brian Williams, and it seems clear to me that Couric is heaped with much more abuse than Williams), to women bloggers, they face much more abuse than men generally (I am the exception that proves the rule, but then I heaped more abuse on folks than anyone in the history of blogging as well so it was to be expected.)

In case it has not been made clear enough, Ed Kilgore is someone I consider a friend and generally very very astute. On top of that, Ed writes on politics as well as anybody, in terms of clarity, persuasion and the goal of being interesting. I wrote about one of his posts, and in the interest of fairness, I want to highlight his response to my post.

As I said, discussion with Ed is always fruitful. I will reply to him in a later post.

Update: Newsweek interviews an expert on whether it's really possible to lose e-mails.

******
Original Post

Karl Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, says his client didn't intentionally delete any e-mails and cooperated fully with Fitzgerald's request for e-mail in PlameGate.

Rove's lawyer said the senior presidential adviser had no idea that his e-mails were being deleted from the RNC server. "His understanding starting very, very early in the administration was that those e-mails were being archived," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said.

The prosecutor probing the Valerie Plame spy case saw and copied all of Rove's e-mails from his various accounts after searching Rove's laptop, his home computer, and the handheld computer devices he used for both the White House and Republican National Committee, Luskin said.

The prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, subpoenaed the e-mails from the White House, the RNC and Bush's re-election campaign, he added. "There's never been any suggestion that Fitzgerald had anything less than a complete record," Luskin said.

The only deletions Rove made were done to clean up his inbox.

More...

Uh-Oh. Firedoglake reports things just got a lot worse for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his former sidekick, Kyle Sampson. As spotted by a commenter at Daily Kos in today's document dump, Set 5 p 14. (pdf) (2/12/07 From Monica Goodling):

"This is the chart that the AG requested. I'll show it to him on the plane tomorrow if he's interested"

He requested the chart. But when? When it was made? The chart (scroll down from the email on page 14) shows the fired U.S. Attorneys and their proposed replacements, some of whose names have been redacted.

Gonzales testified under oath he did not have this information and was not involved in the replacements. Kyle Sampson said he did not have a list. Here's a list, from January, 2006.

Are dates a factor here?

John Walker Lindh, known as the "American Taliban" has been moved to Supermax at Florence, Colorado from a medium security prison.

Last week he sought a sentence reduction. Are the two related?

The Bureau of Prisons says the move is for security reasons. Whose security? John Walker Lindh's? I have a hard time believing they can't find a place other than Supermax to keep him safe. Where are the cops who have been convicted of federal crimes doing their sentences? I haven't heard of any at Supermax.

More...

After a meeting of the Rutgers' womens basketball team and Don and Deidre Imus last night (the meeting which Gov. Jon Corzine was en route to when he had his automobile accident) the team has announced it will accept Don Imus' apology.

``These comments are indicative of greater ills in our culture,'' Stringer said. ``It is not just Mr. Imus, and we hope that this will be and serve as a catalyst for change. Let us continue to work hard together to make this world a better place.''

More....

Honestly, people think I just look for reasons to criticize Senator Barack Obama and his campaign but they must admit I do not need to look very hard. Look at what one of his key advisors Samantha Power said:

I got to talk a little bit about it with Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author on the subject of genocide and an informal advisor to Mr. Obama's campaign who is helping to write the speech. "We're going to hear something very unusual on the left, which is a genuine pride in what America can be again," she told me.

That is outrageous! This is Obama and his campaign in a nutshell - 'look how great I am, I am not like those other Dems who hate America, religion and Republicans.'

This is right out of the Joe Lieberman school. I am really fed up with the whole mindset of the Obama campaign - belittling Dems to try and make yourself look great is simply awful.

Michael Skakel's hearing on a Motion for New Trial begin Tuesday in Connecticut. Court TV will be televising it. The hearing is expected to last two weeks.

The hearing will center on a 2003 interview in which Gitano "Tony" Bryant reportedly implicated two friends in the 1975 bludgeoning of 15-year-old Martha Moxley in Greenwich.

Lawyers for Skakel, 47, the nephew of Ethel Kennedy, must prove Bryant's account surfaced after the trial and likely would have changed the verdict.

Robert Kennedy, Jr., and Skakel's original defense lawyer (and good TalkLeft pal) Mickey Sherman will be witnesses.

I expect there will be a lot of evidence presented about documents withheld by the prosecution in discovery.

TalkLeft's past coverage of the Skakel case is here. I think there was a paltry amount of evidence against him, most of which came from non-credible sources.

Take for example, Gregory Coleman, the dead drug addict who for all intents and purposes was allowed to testify from the grave.

More...

What I'm reading today so far:

• Terry Kindlon's op-ed at Common Dreams criticizing Kathleen Parker's column in which she opined that the British shouldn't have sent a female sailor to war.

• Larissa at Raw Story reporting on the alleged human trafficking of Indian guest workers at a Mississippi shipyard.

• Scribe's diary on Karl Rove and the missing e-mails.

• Avedon Carol on Kurt Vonnegut and all her posts linking to what others are writing. Sideshow is where I go to catch up with the daily blogosphere.

CBS reports on the looming April 15 tax deadline. Yes, immigrants who are in the U.S. without proper documentation also pay taxes.

In 2005, the IRS received almost 8 million W-2 forms that didn't match social security numbers. It is believed that the majority of these, coming from Texas, California, Florida and Illinois which have large immigrant populations, represented wages earned by the undocumented.

You don't need a Social Security number to file tax returns. All you need is a TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number.)

More...

Seven batches of new documents were released today in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal. They are available here at the House Judiciary Committee.

Analysis is taking place in the comments at TPM Muckraker.

Let me join the chorus of praise for Sam Seder of Air America. His daily show ends today and he now starts a weekly Sunday show.

I had the privilege of being a guest on Sam's previous show Majority Report to discuss issues like torture and, the Roberts and Alito Supreme Court nominations. Sam always got it.

Be sure to listen to Sam's new program. It is sure to be among the best political radio out there.